4 io THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



in them, the beauties of which are not comprehended by a less gifted 

 observei*. Few objects escaped his notice. He possessed, in an eminent 

 degree, a prompt and keen appreciation of the sublime and of the gro- 

 tesque ; and a speedy judgment in detecting merit or fraud, affectation 

 or sincerity. 



" Dr. Lea habitually, during a period of nearly half a century, spent 

 many hours of the night in his studies and his writings, seldom relin- 

 quishing them before midnight. These night studies were continued, 

 with little intermission, until he was nearly eighty years old ; and they 

 were gradually and finally abandoned only in compliance with the 

 warnings of his medical adviser. Until Dr. Lea became enfeebled 

 with age, at a late period in his life, it was a source of great .delight 

 to him to collect mineral specimens in Chester and Delaware Counties 

 in Pennsylvania. His most frequent companions, on such occasions, 

 were Mr. William W. Jefferis, formerly of West Chester, and the 

 writer. No ardent school-boy manifested more enthusiasm in digging 

 than he, when a fair prospect was afforded for obtaining specimens ; 

 and his well-trained eye quickly recognized a specimen, though cov- 

 ered with soil. He never permitted any person to clean his specimens 

 excepting himself ; and that operation he performed with great pa- 

 tience, in the most complete manner, in order to display all the beauties 

 which the minerals possessed. He was familiar with nearly all the 

 mineral localities in Eastern Pennsylvania. Many years ago the writer 

 described a locality for minerals in Delaware County, which he sup- 

 posed would be new to Dr. Lea, and received the following reply from 

 him : ' I have crawled all over that locality, on my hands and knees, 

 a half-dozen times, with good results every time.' 



" Dr. Lea was a strong admirer of gems, and his familiarity with 

 precious stones was so great that he was considered to be one of the 

 best judges of them in this country. He devoted more time than any 

 other mineralogist to the microscopic examination of the precious 

 stones ; the results from which were published, at various times, in 

 the proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences. He possessed 

 a large collection of precious stones from all the important localities 

 in the world ; and copious notes, in his own writing, are still attached 

 to all the specimens. 



" During the last few years of Dr. Lea's life, after he relinquished 

 much of the active work in his mineral cabinet, his time was usually 

 spent in his library, in the happy enjoyment of life, surrounded by his 

 books referring to his favorite studies, mineralogy, geology, and con- 

 chology. He enjoyed especially the company of his scientific friends, 

 and his interest in discussing scientific subjects was maintained until 

 his final illness." 



Another friend of Dr. Lea's expresses surprise that, in all the pub- 

 lished notices of him, " no one has spoken of his wonderful powers of 

 observation of Nature even in her minutest forms. You will pardon 



